C'mon, vogue....

 

The way that some folks are talking, you'd think that he had given the finger to the Queen.  

When Carey Price struck his "Usain Bolt" pose a couple of seasons ago after turning away a Vincent Lecavalier shootout attempt and securing the Canadiens a win, some folks took it as a brash move by a young kid who had yet to win anything of significance in the NHL. While that may be, others saw it as the emerging personality of one of the league's promising young stars; the kind of thing to which the NHL likes to hitch its marketing machine.

Ask Price, and he was merely celebrating a big win.

The Montreal netminder is hardly the first goalie in NHL history to break the mold and strike a pose. He wasn't even the first with the Canadiens. The great Jacques Plante would raise the ire of the opposition when he's raise his arms over his head after a big win. Ken Dryden wouldn't use his pose to celebrate, but his restful leaning on his stick while the action swirled around him was sometimes seen as a slight towards the teams were nightly handled with ease by probably the greatest team ever assembled.

Fast-forward to January 6, 2011. The Habs are facing a team that they eliminated in last season's playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the game goes into a shootout. Price stones six shooters to secure the victory, and busts out another pose:

Personally, I'd give more style points to his first one, but the sentiment behind both is the same: big save, big win, let's celebrate. But with last night's loss to those same Penguins, some Hab fans believe that the turning of the tables was brought on by The Pose. This feeling was heightened by Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury mocking Price's pose after the final siren had sounded.

Not that Fleury has much to "in your face" about when talking about the Habs; going into the game he was a very ordinary 9-7-1, with a lofty 3.45 GAA and a meager .886 SV%, while the Habs made him look like Swiss Cheese in handing him his golf bag last spring. And he had what could be described as a rather routine night in picking up the win. Not really anything out of the ordinary to get excited about.

There's the difference: Price celebrated. Fleury mocked.

No, surely the loss couldn't have had anything to do with the Habs having given the Penguins eight powerplay attempts which led to four powerplay goals, could it? And of course it was a spur of the moment celebration almost a week previous that cost the team two points in the standings... wasn't it? 

Um, no.

Another problem that some people (fans AND players) have with Price's exuberance is that it goes against the grain of their idea of "proper" goalie celebration. A fist pump is seen to be ok. Price "low fiving" with teammate P.K. Subban after a win seems to be acceptable, too. Yet a pose is somehow taken to be over the line and showing off.

But what about the goalie's teammates? Should one of them score an exciting goal, or win a fight, wild celebration is not only accepted, it's often encouraged. The Alexander Ovechkin highlight-reel goal is always followed by a an innovative move or a jump into the glass. Should a goalie then, upon making the final save to seal a win not be afforded the same latitude in celebration without being branded a showoff and becoming "bulletin board material" for the opposing team?

Goalies, I say go for it. You're supposed to be oddballs, anyway. Don't let the extent of your personality be limited to what's painted on your mask. Work up your best celebratory move, and bust it out when the situation warrants. Heck, it could even become an event in the All-Star skills competition. 

Now Carey, get to work on rehearsing your next pose. May I suggest the "Hulk Hogan", or maybe a back flip?

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NHL to OK personal endorsement jersey patches

In a somewhat surprising move, the NHL seems set to allow product-placement advertising on player's jerseys.

Endorsement patches will be limited to 2.25 by 3.25 inches in size, and must be placed on the left breast of the jersey, just below the shoulder line. In circumstances where a player already wears a captain or assistant letter in that location, the sponsorship logo will be allowed to be sewn on the right breast.

What's interesting about the deal is that the sponsorships will be player specific. Just as a player can be endorsed off-ice by an advertising partner, NHL athletes will now be allowed to bring those sponsorships into game action.

Worried about high salaries forcing some players out of the NHL, the NHLPA has been looking into creative ways for members to supplement their income while still allowing their contracts to work in a salary cap era where many teams often spend to the cap limit.

"I think that this is a great idea," said Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, the first player that will wear a patch on his jersey during regular league play. "My agent has been working on a deal with KFC for a while now, and we think that this partnership is a great fit. They get the extra exposure for their brand, and in addition to a boatload of cash I get a lifetime supply of Double Downs. With the recent shrinking of the goalie equipment, I need every advantage I can get. In fact, I've been pounding them back since August in the hopes of getting the jump on my competition. So far, other than a mild tingling in my left arm it seems to have worked well."

(story continued below)





Bruin goalie Tim Thomas showing off his new KFC sponsorship patch



However, some opponents to the idea cite the runaway logo-ing of the uniforms of other leagues as a reason to keep the patches off of NHL jerseys. "It could be a slippery slope. Where would it stop?" asks a Jason Moore, who runs a web site dedicated to the history of NHL jerseys. "Since before the NHL was even around, the uniforms have been advertising free, save for the manufacturer logo. What's next? Mark Recchi pimping Viagara? Or a Summer's Eve logo on Chris Pronger's jersey?"

"We didn't want to go completely down the road of soccer or those NASCAR rednecks and have our players look like skating billboards," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. "We'll leave that for the rink boards and those wannabe European leagues. We think that this strikes a nice balance."

With the Thomas deal opening the door for similar sponsorships, it's expected that jersey patches will soon be worn by some of the biggest players in the game as their endorsement partners jump on board with the idea of advertising on game jerseys.

Soon to be outfitted include Alex Ovechkin (Colgate), Sidney Crosby (Pampers), Daniel and Henrik Sedin (2 for 1 Pizza), Dion Phaneuf (Calloway) and Dany Heatley (SCI Funeral Homes Inc).

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